Christmas Together
by HypnoticMelody
Summary: -ONE SHOT- The Samurai Rangers spend their first Christmas together. -Part of the Heart of a Samurai series-


**Christmas Together**

**Summary-The Samurai Rangers spend their first Christmas together.**

* * *

"Do you really have to go Antonio?" Emily asked as she watched the Gold Ranger check his bags by the front door, making sure he had everything. She brushed her hair out of her face as he bundled up his coat. "Christmas won't be as…_golden_ without you here."

"Aww, well, I'm going to miss you guys," Antonio replied as he zipped up his coat, giving the Yellow Ranger a smile. He waved his hand lazily through the air before giving her a hug. "But, my dad really wanted me home for Christmas. But, I left all your gifts in the living room."

"That's all I wanted to hear," Melody said with a teasing grin as she carried a large cardboard box, filled with more cardboard into the room. "Just kidding. Have a safe trip, Antonio."

"What's the cardboard for?" Emily asked, using her finger to brush a lock of hair away from her mouth. Melody sighed as she set the box on the floor, glancing at it.

"Christmas gift," she replied vaguely before stepping forward to give Antonio a hug as well. "Have a good Christmas. We'll miss our good spirits around here."

"If only you all thought Mia's mistletoe was a good idea," Antonio said with a wistful sigh, looking pointedly at Melody who rolled her eyes. Emily laughed as she looked back and forth between the two of them. Melody then relaxed into a smile and moved forward, standing on her tip toes to give Antonio a kiss on the cheek. "I'll never wash my face again."

"Bye Antonio," Melody replied with a second eye roll as she lifted the cardboard box again, moving into the living room.

"Get going or you'll miss your bus," Emily added, pulling open the front door. Antonio bent down and grabbed his bags, putting the m on his shoulders and back. "You got everything?" Antonio nodded before moving out the front door. "Bye, travel safely. And contact us as soon as you get there." Antonio called a farewell over his shoulder and Emily closed the front door, shivering. "Man, it's _really_ cold outside."

"The weather man said it's a record low," Melody commented, dumping the box in the corner of the living room. "He even said it could snow; but I'll believe that when I see it. It's never snowed in this part of California."

"Yes, it has," Jaeger commented, walking out of the kitchen with springy steps, his tail swishing back and forth in happiness. "Remember when the Bookala came to Angel Grove?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't really count," Melody replied as she dropped into a chair and he jumped into her lap. "I meant that it doesn't _legit_ snow here."

"It might," Jaeger replied, arching his back in a stretch.

"It's gotten pretty cold in here too, so I believe it," Emily said, adjusting her white knit gloves and her matching vest. "Well, I'm going to go write a letter to Serena if you guys need me." She let out a happy sigh as she looked around the room before walking away singing, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" as she went.

"Hey guys," Mike called moments later, as she rushed into the room, his upper half concealed by a large, overflowing box. "I've found more Christmas decorations." He dropped the box to the ground with a loud thump as Mia, Kevin, and Jayden followed him into the living room, wearing Christmas themed clothing in their colors. Mia had reindeer antlers on her head. "I thought I heard Emily."

"She just left," Melody replied, getting out of her seat to peer into the box. "Ooh, Santa hats. Nice find, Mike."

"Look at all of this stuff, it's great," Mia said with a grin a she pulled out a string of colorful lights.

"I haven't seen some of this stuff in a while," Jayden commented as he sifted through the box. He glanced up at his friends, noticing the curious looks on their faces. "We never decorated the house as much as this after the battle. It was always just in here." He gave a short laugh. "I kinda just forgot about this stuff." He then cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject by saying, "Did Antonio leave?"

"Just a few minutes ago," Melody replied with a nod.

"He's only been gone for five minutes and the place already feels different," Mia commented with a small sigh. "I think the only person more excited than Mike about Christmas was Antonio."

"No one's more excited than Mike," Kevin commented seconds before Mike blindly threw a handful of tinsel in his face as he dug through the box to look at what else was in there. "_Mike_." Before he could start up an argument with the Green Ranger, Mentor Ji walked in with a jolly "ho ho ho" carrying a large tree.

"Wow," Mia breathed, glancing at the tree.

"Awesome find, Mentor," Mike said with a grin of delight as he hurried over to inspect the tree. "It's…it's _perfect_!"

"It was the biggest one they had on the lot," Ji replied, using one hand to prop the tree up. "I'm glad you like it. I just about gave up before I found it."

"Let's decorate," Mia said with a grin, peering into the box. "Do we have any pink tinsel?"

"Let's put it up first," Mike replied. "Kevin, go get the stand, and make sure there's plenty of water in it." Kevin looked like he was going to protest, but sighed and went to do as he was told. He then straightened and crossed his arms over his chest, glancing at Melody noticing that she was eyeing the tree with disdain. "Do you not like Christmas trees or something?"

"Or something," Melody replied shortly before turning towards Ji. "Mentor, do you have anything else in the car?"

"Oh yes, the groceries," Mentor said his eyes popping open, gently smacking himself in the forehead. "If you could go get that for me, please."

"Sure," Melody replied before moving to the door, grabbing her coat from the coat rack on the way out.

"I'll go get Emily," Mike offered. "She'll freak when she sees how big this tree is."

"One tree stand," Kevin announced, slowly walking into the living room, carrying the stand into the living room. He set it down on the carpet and then helped Mentor Ji and Jayden carry the tree over to the stand and put it in, making sure it stood up straight. Kevin grinned, clapping his hands together. "Alright, now we can start decorating."

"And wrapping our gifts too," Melody announced as she came back into the house, her arms filled with bags. "Mentor got more wrapping paper and tape."

"Not without Emily," Mia replied.

"Em's writing an email to Serena," Mike announced hurrying back into the room. "She said she'll be along in a little while."

"Anybody want something to drink? We can either have punch or egg nog," Melody said as she unloaded the Christmas wrapping stuff from the bags, peering into the other ones. "Ooh and you got those bacon wrapped chicken things."

"Mentor, I could've made us all snacks," Mia commented as she took the tubes of wrapping paper. Kevin, Mike, Jayden, and Melody exchanged panicked looks.

"Well…yes," Mentor Ji slowly replied. "But…I figured you'd be too busy, decorating and wrapping gifts."

"Yeah, that's true," Mia replied with a small sigh. "But, I could at least make some cookies for you guys. Christmas cookies are my specialty."

"Grrreat," Mike replied slowly through a grin as Mia hurried out of the room, happily humming to herself.

"If we're going to be wrapping gifts, we're going to need all the tape we can get," Jayden commented, laughing a little bit, elbowing Mike in the side.

"Geeze, you wrap one horrible gift and no one let's you live it down," Mike grumbled.

"You can't wrap gifts?" Melody asked an amused look on her face.

"Why do you think we had Kevin wrap all of Emily's birthday presents?" Jayden asked, arching an eyebrow. "Mike used up so much tape and wrapping paper, just trying to wrap up a box before he let anyone else take over."

"And they all turned out great if I do say so myself," Kevin said, puffing out his chest. Jayden and Melody started laughing. Halfway through her fit of laughter, Melody's laughter turned into hard coughs. "You ok?"

"Yeah," Melody replied before covering her mouth before coughing again. She put a hand to her chest, letting out a breath of air. "I'm fine. I'll be—"she sucked in a deep breath, "back later. Perfect time to—"another deep breath, "finish up some gifts." She then spun on her heels and sped walked out of the room.

"What's up with her?" Mia asked, quickly moving out of the way of the hurried Ranger. "Jaeger, do you know?"

"Uh…yeah," Jaeger replied, turning to face the Rangers. "She's allergic to pine trees and it works up her asthma."

"What's asthma?" Mike asked, his nose wrinkling.

"It's a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways," Kevin explained, running his hand over his face. "My dad has it. It makes it hard for you to breathe sometimes." Mia suddenly looked panic stricken. "If something triggers it, like pine trees in this case, the chest and airways tighten and you can start wheezing and coughing, or you could just have shortness of breath. If it gets _real_ bad she could have an asthma attack."

"She'll be ok, she just has to have some water and take her medicine," Jaeger added, seeing the looks n their faces. "She's been dealing with it for years. Her family normally uses a fake Christmas tree."

"Well, that explains the small tree in our room," Jayden commented, rubbing the back of his neck. "Why didn't she say anything before?"

"She didn't want you guys to have to change your Christmas traditions for her," Jaeger replied, looking at everybody. "And those are the faces she didn't want to see. Like I said, she'll be ok. She just needs to take her medicine."

"I'll go see if she's ok," Jayden offered, setting down the string of lights in his hand. He made his way out of the living room and down the hall to their shared room, knocking on the door.

"_Who is it_?" Melody called back over the hum of a machine, her voice sounding muffled.

"It's Jayden," Jayden replied, moving to open the door, but found that the door was locked. "Open the door."

"_Hold on a second_," Melody shouted back. Jayden blinked when he heard a shuffling sound and pounding footsteps, the humming sound stopped before there was the _click_ of the latch unlocking before the door was swung open, nearly causing Jayden to fall inside. "Sorry, I was working on your Christmas gift. What's up?"

"Uh, well, Jaeger told us about your pine tree allergy," Jayden explained. Melody nodded in understanding. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Cause it's not a big deal," Melody replied with a shrug before clearing her throat. "Besides, this is our first Christmas away from home and Mike was going on and on about getting the best tree possible. He's so excited for Christmas; I didn't want to crush him."

"If it means your health is being compromised—"

"I have my nebulizer, I'll be fine," Melody replied with a wave of her hand before motioning to a rectangular white device that sat on her bed with a face mask attached to it. "See look, the medicine comes in the form of a liquid solution, which you put in here." She pointed to a little glass container sticking off the back of the small machine. "It's inhaled instead of ingested because it goes straight to the source of the problem in your chest. Its battery operated, so you just put the mask on and press this button. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"I always worry about my teammates," Jayden replied slowly as if choosing his words carefully. "As long as you're ok."

"I am," Melody replied with a nod. "Look, I've been living with asthma my whole life; I know how to deal with it." She used her shoulder to brush her hair from her face. "Anyway, I should be asking you that." She reached out her hand and lifted his arm to see the scar of when he had dueled Deker. "How's your wrist? It must be eating you up knowing you can't train."

"Yeah," Jayden agreed with a nod. "It sucks." He then cleared his throat, gently pulling his arm back. "I'll leave you alone so you can finish with your gift."

"Could you bring in the box of cardboard please?" Melody asked, grabbing the portable nebulizer, sliding the elastic band of the face mask around her head. Jayden watched as she jabbed her thumb into a circular button on the front and the humming sound started up again, sending white mist swirling into the air. Lying back, Melody tried to get her breathing right and make nice, deep and even breaths while medicine was pumped into her mouth, traveling to her lungs. "I'll rejoin you guys later."

"Alright," Jayden replied, continuing to watch her. He then blinked, shaking his head and stepped out of the room, slowly making her way back into the living room.

"Is Mel ok?" Mia asked, immediately spotting the Red Ranger. "We talked it over and we'll get rid of the tree."

"You don't have to do that," Jaeger said in a sing song voice, pausing in batting around a ball of wrapping paper with his paws. A small growl rumbled in his throat before he then pounced on the ball.

"Yeah, she's fine," Jayden replied stopping to notice Mike covered in Christmas bows in various ranger colors. He laughed and lifted two large bauble ornaments, moving to hang them off the Green Ranger's ears. "Very stylish, Mike. These are so you."

"Ha ha ha," Mike chuckled as Jayden moved around the tree to get the large cardboard box.

"We can keep the tree," Jayden announced. "She looks like she'll be ok, but I don't know much about asthma."

"I don't know," Mia said as she pulled some tape from a rabbit shaped dispenser, breaking it with the rabbit's teeth. "I don't want her to spend Christmas alone in her room."

"She won't," Jayden replied and gave a small smile when his friends gave him a confused look. "As one of my Christmas gifts to her, I'm going to let her go and visit her family. I allowed Antonio to do so, it's only fair."

"That's really nice of you, Jayden," Mike commented, exchanging glances with Mia. "She'll really appreciate that." _More than you know_.

"What?" Jayden asked, seeing the looks on his friends' faces.

"Nothing," they all replied in unison, shrugging, going back to decorating the tree. Jayden peered at them for a moment before taking the box and carrying it out of the room.

"Hey, Mia, pass the tape?" Kevin asked as he dropped down from the small step stool he was on, placing some ornaments high up on the tree. "We've got a lot of presents to wrap and I want to start doing mine."

"Ooh, do you have mine in here?" Mike asked, looking around, a wide grin on his face.

"Yes," Kevin replied slowly, taking the tape dispenser from Mike. "But, they're all in boxes and don't think about peeking."

"Oh come on, Kev, everyone peeks," Mike said, slapping his friend on the back. "It's part of the Christmas tradition." He then gave the Blue Ranger a pleading look, sticking out his bottom lip. "Just give me a hint?"

"No," Kevin deadpanned, lighting hitting Mike on the nose with the tape dispenser.

"While the two of you are arguing, I'm going to check on my cookies," Mia commented with a smile. "I hope you're hungry."

"Oh, Mia's cookies," Kevin said with a frown. "Can't wait."

"Remember when she almost burnt down the kitchen making that chicken for ya?" Mike asked, removing the ornaments from his ears, putting them on the tree.

"Mia was so sweet," Kevin commented, shooting Mike a look when he heard him snort, "But that chicken was _so sour_. I just didn't have the heart to tell her how bad it tasted." He then shuttered. "Ugh, I can still taste it."

"I think at least one of our New Year's resolutions should be to tell Mia the truth about her cooking," Jayden commented, scratching at his forehead, briefly closing his eyes.

"Well, thanks for volunteering, Big Red," Melody commented with a smirk as she made her way into the living room. "I'm sure you could do a _much_ better job than the rest of us." She sucked in a deep breath of air before letting it out. "Mmm, that pine smells good, though." She lifted Jaeger off the floor, after he ran over to her, and cradled him in her arms.

Jayden's eyes widened, "Wait a minute—"

"Hey, a leader's gotta do what a leader's gotta do," Mike said, clapping Jayden on the back before mussing the Red Ranger's hair. "And what better leader to take the fall for us?" Jayden shut his mouth sensing that there was no point in arguing about it. "Who wants eggnog?"

After the group of Rangers spent their time eating Christmas cookies, that surprisingly were pretty good, and drinking eggnog while Mentor Ji told them all stories of Jayden's previous Christmases despite the Red Ranger trying to get his old friend and guardian to be quiet, they all moved into the living room with mugs of hot chocolate and Mike's laptop to blast Christmas tunes as they started wrapping their gifts, making sure they were all stored in boxes or bags so they couldn't see the desired item.

"Still can't wrap presents without making an exact science out of it," Emily observed, shaking her head as she sat cross legged on an ottoman, lifting her mug to her mouth.

"Leave him alone, Em," Mia chuckled. "He can wrap his gifts anyway he wants."

"_Thank you_," Kevin said pointedly, giving Mia a smile. "I've always taken pride in how I presented people with gifts." He shrugged. "It's better than Mike's anyway."

Which was true; Mike was struggling. His attempts to wrap the Christmas gifts were clearly going to be a joke for the rest of the night. It looked pretty bad. While he explained that ever since he was old enough to start buying his own presents he was given the responsibility of wrapping, he had never gotten it down pat. He'd either use too much wrapping paper or too little. Instead of sharp corners and crisp lines like Kevin's wrapped gifts, the corners looked crumpled and excess paper poked out here and there, making…whatever it was he was wrapping looking even chunkier than the actual object. But, he prided himself with being able to do extravagant things with the ribbon.

"I should just stick with gift bags and tissue paper_,_" Mike said with a shake of his head as he lifted up the wrapped gift. He shrugged and set the box in his lap and reached for the sheet of sticker gift tags. He found one of a snowman, peeled it off the sheet and stuck it on the box. He quickly scribbled Kevin's name as the recipient before adding his own next to "From."

"I agree," Kevin commented.

"Yuck it up, Blue Boy," Mike commented, shaking the box in his lap before giving a sweet smile. "This one's yours." Kevin glanced at the box, shaking his head in amusement.

"Christmas is such a romantic time," Mia commented, pausing in the middle of her humming. "My parents first met on Christmas. Actually, they got caught under the mistletoe." She then made somewhat of a whimpering sound. "I wish we had mistletoe."

"You and Antonio got outvoted, get over it," Melody deadpanned as she used scissors to curl he ribbon she tied on the gift on her lap. "Besides, it's Christmas Eve, all the stores are probably out. The best you could do right now is use spinach and teeny tiny red grapes or cherries."

"You've thought a lot about that haven't you?" Emily asked a teasing lilt to her tone. Melody laughed, shaking her head.

"I just don't see what's so romantic about it," she replied, tying a thick silver ribbon around a green box. "Kissin' on your friends and the people you're into in front of your friends and family? No thanks."

Emily raised her eyebrows looking amused. "You didn't seem to have a problem giving him a kiss on the cheek before he left." Melody flushed as Mia and Mike let out teasing, "Ooohs" as Kevin suddenly looked interested in the conversation. "Haven't you noticed he's always been flirting with you?"

"He's been flirting with me since he first met me," Melody commented, moving to grab a roll of wrapping paper. "And if I hadn't noticed, then I have pretty much failed at being a girl."

Emily smiled, giving a sigh. "The tree looks great, you guys. Sorry, I didn't help."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Em," Jayden replied, brushing pine needles from his hair as he crawled out from under the tree from plugging in the lights. He smiled as he looked it over. "We know how important your sister is to you." He sat down on an ottoman and pulled his sweatshirt closer to his body. "It's gotten so cold since summer. In fact, I don't remember it ever being this cold."

"Maybe we'll have a white Christmas after all," Emily said with a grin before she finished her hot chocolate, moving to start wrapping her own gifts. "Now _that_ would be a _real_ Christmas miracle."

"Hey," Mike said, getting everyone's attention. "Merry Christmas, guys. While, I am missing my family right now, there's no one else I'd want to spend the holidays with." He laughed when he got an "awwww" from everybody in reply before he had tinsel thrown at him.

* * *

The Rangers stayed up late into the night wrapping up their last gifts before they went to sleep. Emily finished off her email to her sister before going to bed, Melody stayed in the kitchen finishing her last Christmas gift, and eating some more Christmas cookies before she decided to get some sleep, and Mike, being the big kid that he was, decided to sleep in the living room as close to the tree as possible. He tossed and turned all night, excited for the moment where he could wake everybody up and they could start opening presents. It was his favorite part of the holidays no matter where he was and no matter how old he was.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS! WAKE UP EVERYONE! SANTA CAME!" Mike's shout rang through the house, instantly waking up the other Rangers and Mentor Ji, causing them to scramble for blankets and slippers before rushing to join their friend in the living room. "IT SNOWED! IT SNOWED!"

"But, that's not possible," Kevin commented, rubbing at his eyes as he made his way into the living room. He blinked a few times until he was fully awake. "It doesn't snow in this part of California."

"Why do I get the feeling you had something to do with this?" Melody asked, holding Jaeger up to her line of vision.

"Because I did," Jaeger replied, squirming out of her grip before sitting on the ground, curling his tail around his paws. "I have a friend, Setzer, who controls ice. I asked him if he could make it snow for you guys this winter."

Melody kissed the top of his head as she moved to sit on the empty ottoman nearest her, lifting him into his lap. "You're the best."

"Merry Christmas, everyone," Mentor Ji said with a smile. He got a group "Merry Christmas" in reply before the Rangers rushed towards the Christmas tree, hurrying to pass out the presents and start opening them.

"Hey, thanks, Ji," Jayden said with a grin as he opened to the lid of the box that he held in his hands. Inside were three meditation balls.

"Hey, look," Melody nudged Mike with her elbow, pointing at Jayden's gift, stopping in the middle of unwrapping hers. "Jayden's finally got a pair of balls." Mike burst out laughing as Jayden rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha," he commented dryly before reaching for his next gift.

"Wow, a new apron," Mia said with a grin as she held up the white and pink accessory. "Thanks, Mentor, I can't wait to use it."

"A new scarf," Emily said with a gasp, pulling the soft cloth out of its box, wrapping it around her neck. "See, Mia, I _told you_ that's what he got me."

"Oh my god! A pick punch, thanks," Melody said with a grin as she lifted the black and silver hole punch like object. Spotting the confused look on Mia's face she quickly explained, "You can take any plastic, like old credit cards, and turn them into guitar picks with this punch."

"Mentor, you're the best," Kevin grinned holding up a new blue blanket.

Around the room, presents were passed and cries of excitement and thanks went up from the Rangers. All except for Mike, who sat quietly, looking even more and more depressed as presents went around. Even Jaeger got some gifts as well; a knitted hat from Melody, who actually revealed at that point that she was a closet knitter and made hats for everybody, except for Mike which she quickly explained that she ran out of time to knit him one.

There were various other gifts given like Jayden got a baseball glove as to which he explained that he was a huge baseball fan when he was a kid, Kevin got a new watch, one he could also use in the pool, as a gag gift Emily got a skate helmet from Melody, and Mia got a cookbook which Kevin prompted her to use from time to time.

"Did…did Santa forget me?" Mike quietly asked as all the excitement died down after all of the gifts were open. He looked sadly at the other Rangers and saw that they were trading looks. That didn't make him feel any better at all.

"Now wait," Mentor Ji said, pretending to think. "I think there's an envelope under the tree."

"An envelope?" Mike repeated, his nose wrinkling at the thought. "That's it?" Mentor silently handed the envelope over to him and he slowly opened it up. His eyebrows knitted together as he silently read the note before looking at his friends and re-reading it. "Go to the front door?"

He got to his feet, kicking wrapping paper and ribbons away from him and hurried to the front door. Kevin crawled under the tree, grabbing a small wrapped gift, handing it to Melody before they hurried after Mike, getting to the open doors just as they heard his yell of excitement as seeing his gift.

"Thanks guys, so much," Mike said as he gave his friends and his mentor a hug. Mentor handed Mike his coat. "I can try it out now?"

"Not after opening this," Melody said with a grin, handing the box to him. Tucking his coat under his Mike shredded the wrapping paper from the box and opened it to see a white and black matching knitted scarf, hat, and gloves. "Merry Christmas." Mike was practically bouncing with excitement as he put on the hat, gloves, and scarf, and then his coat, rushing to fire up the motorcycle, shooting snow out behind him as he took off over the grounds.

"And on that note," Mentor said, turning to Jayden putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Right," Jayden agreed before turning to the Purple Ranger. "Mel, we all know how important your family is to you, especially with them living close by. And we let Antonio go visit his parents, so we thought it was only fair to let you do the same."

"Really?" Melody asked, her blue eyes widening, a smile slowly making its way across her face. "I can see them? Today?" Jayden and Mentor Ji nodded seconds before she gave them tight hugs. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She then hurried down the hall and into her room, changing out of her pajamas as fast as she could. She grabbed the, now sealed, cardboard box out of her room and got her wallet before quickly making her way to the ground door, grabbing the keys to the Shiba Family car on the way out. "I'll be back soon!"

"So, I don't know if you're aware of it," Jaeger commented a moment after the door was closed. Emily lifted him into her arms "But you made her really happy. Like, the happiest I've seen her in a while." He turned to Jayden who just shrugged.

Outside, the black escalade wobbled as Melody guided it out of the driveway to the Shiba House. Moving slowly through the snow, Melody made her way through the streets, still in awe of the fact that it was actually snowing and glancing at the happily families as they played outside in the front yards of their houses. The sky was all clouds and snow was being scattered here and there. Soon, she had reached her destination of Bulk's place and climbed out of the driver's seat, pulling her hood up over her head, grabbing the cardboard box and, slamming the car door shut behind her, made her way to the garage door, knocking on it with a cold fist.

There was a shuffling sound and a muffled sneeze before the door was swung open and Bulk ushered her inside. Immediately, Spike flew to her side, giving her a tight hug in greeting, talking a mile a minute about how much it was snowing. "Well, I brought you guys a gift, but you're going to have to be _really_ careful with it," she said as she brushed the snow off her coat. She looked around and spotted the makeshift beds on the floor. "_Really_? You're _still_ sleeping out here? At least use a space heater or _something_." She started tapping her foot in a maternal way. "I mean, you have perfect beds _inside_."

"But, the Samurai didn't always have the best living conditions," Spike explained, puffing out his chest. "And we _are_ training to be Samurai."

"Exactly," Bulk said as he wiped his nose with a tissue. "We can handle whatever's thrown our way."

"Whatever," Melody commented, setting down the box before opening. "I know how important this Samurai training stuff is to you so—"

"Uh," Spike said, tapping her shoulder as he peered into the box. "It's just more cardboard."

"It's _made_ out of cardboard, genius," Bulk growled in reply.

"Right," Melody replied, lifting one of the things out of the box. It looked like a helmet. "So, I made you guys your own Samurai armor. Only, it's made out of cardboard if that's ok." She placed the helmet on Spike's head before pulling out the other pieces."Just be careful with it." Spike grinned, jumping up and down as he held it out in front of him. "Bulk, I made one for you too."

"Thanks, Mel," Bulk said as he placed the helmet on his head. "This is great."

"Hey, do you want a ride over to my dad's place?" Melody asked, crossing her arms over her chest, shivering a little. "I was just about to head over there before hanging out with some friends."

"No thanks," Bulk replied with a shake of his head. "I promised Spike I'd go and teach him how to make a snowman."

"Alright, have fun." Melody opened the door to the garage before turning and pointing a warning finger at Spike. "Don't stay out too long. I don't want Bulk's cold to get any—"she trailed off when Bulk's nose twitched and his face contorted as he was about to sneeze. Spike quickly rushed to get him some tissue and held it up to Bulk's nose as he let out a loud sneeze, "worse."

* * *

"Whoo, what a ride," Mike said as he entered the Shiba House, brushing snow off of his coat and hat. He stepped into the living room where Mentor, Jayden, Kevin, Mia, and Brittany were drinking hot chocolate and looking over their gifts. "Thanks guys."

"I didn't hear your bike outside," Mia commented, looking confused. "Did you run out of gas?"

"No, I brought him home," Melody replied coming in behind him, her nose and cheeks red. "I saw him walking on the side of the road."

"Are you ok?" Emily asked, immediately looking worried. "Did something happen?"

"I don't understand," Kevin commented with a shake of his head.

"It's quite simple really," Mike replied with a smile, joining them in the living room, sitting on the floor. "I gave my bike away." He got a chorus of "_What_?" in reply and he held up his hands defensively. "Guys, calm down. I saw these guys at the park who had nothing at all and it made me think of what I have here with all of you. I wanted them to have something special so I gave it to them."

"Mike, you're something else," Emily commented as she moved forward to give him a hug. "That was really sweet of you."

"Besides, with all of our training, I don't think I would've found time to use it," Mike added, hugging Emily back. "I'm sorry you spent all that money on me, but I'm not sorry that I gave it away."

"I'm proud of you, Mike," Mentor Ji replied, reaching out a hand and clapping him on the shoulder. "Now, how would you like to open the rest of your gifts?"

"Maybe after we get something to eat?" Mike asked, rubbing his growling stomach with his hands. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad there are more presents, but I'm starving." He then turned towards Melody, nodding towards the bag in her hands. "And I want to know what's in that bag that smells so good."

"Have you guys already eaten?" Melody asked. She pulled

"No, we were waiting for you," Emily replied, sniffing the air. "And Mike is right, that smells _great_."

"Well, I stopped by my place and my dad made quiches for us," Melody replied lifting the bag. "Bacon and Spinach. Kind of a 'thanks-for-keeping-my-daughter-alive' type of thing." She handed it to Mentor who made his way into the kitchen, the Rangers following him. "And speaking of dad's, Jayden, I have one last gift for you. Close your eyes."

Jayden looked confused as he sat down at his spot at the kitchen table. He then rested his elbows on the table, covering his face with his hands. Everyone else watched, curious, as Melody made her way over to one of the cabinet doors under the island and pulled out a photo album, placing it down in front of Jayden. "Ok, you can open it. It's from Mentor and I."

Jayden opened his eyes and came face to face with a leather bound photo album with his name written in gold lettering at the top. His gaze dropped to the picture on the front and he felt a calmness sweep over him as a younger version of himself and his father stared back at him, smiling at the camera that captured the moment between father and son.

"Mentor helped me find the pictures and decide which order to put them all in," Melody explained as Jayden started to flip through the pictures, a small, sad, smile on his face.

"Overall, it was Mel's idea," Mentor replied, moving to stand behind Jayden to look at the pictures. "And I remember when each picture was taken."

"I've noticed you kept a picture under your pillow and being my nosy self—"

"At least you've admitted it," Kevin commented and Melody gave a short laugh.

"Yeah, well, I looked at it one day, and Mentor caught me," Melody explained, dropping into her seat at the table. "So, I asked him if there were any other pictures that I could put in a photo album for you. It took a little while for Mentor to find them, but, still."

"Thanks," Jayden replied, finally speaking up. "I really appreciate it." He leaned back in his chair, briefly closing his eyes. "For years, it's just been Ji and I in this house spending Christmas together. While I was hesitant about having other people join me in the fight with the Nighlok, I'm glad you're all here. Thank you."

"No, Jayden," Mia said with a shake of her head as Mentor handed Mike and Melody cups of hot chocolate. "Thank _you_; for teaching us how to be the best Samurai we can be and for opening up your home to give us a place to stay. We're happy to be here."

"Merry Christmas, everyone," Mentor Ji commented.

"Merry Christmas," the Rangers replied in unison, clinking their cups together.

* * *

**It's kinda hard to write Christmas themed one-shots when it's nowhere near Christmas. But, I really liked this one. Only 1 more one-shot until Soul of a Samurai starts. Thanks for reading.**

**~MysticMelody101~**


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